ACCC still monitoring eBay, PayPal a bank?

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 09 July 2008 00:32

Opinion and Analysis

Looks like the ACCC still has eBay well under its investigative sights despite not officially saying anything since eBay withdrew its notice to force buyers to use PayPal while claiming to have received ACCC authorisation to continue compelling sellers to use PayPal whether they want to or not!

A news article at SmartCompany has referenced the most recent iTWire article called “The rebels strike back against eBay PayPal empire” in its own eBay story while quoting eBay spokesman Daniel Feiler seeking to "explode myths" about PayPal.

In this iTWire article, a group of concerned sellers had indicated it is writing to all relevant state, territory and federal Ministers in an attempt to get them to investigate eBay’s desire to continue forcing sellers to offer PayPal while keeping the PayPal logo bigger than all other payment options.

In addition, eBay Australia CEO Simon Smith has been saying in the media that eBay’s “stage 1” process of requiring sellers to offer PayPal has effectively been sanctioned by the ACCC, while sellers say they can’t see where the ACCC has given this sanction.

Although the ACCC has offered no official announcement since its draft notice to reject eBay’s application to impose PayPal virtually exclusively on the eBay site for buyers and sellers, followed by a “pre-conference” further investigating claims from all sides on the eBay proposal, SmartCompany says the ACCC has “confirmed that it will continue to monitor eBay’s conduct in relation to PayPal.”

This will no doubt keep concerned sellers happy, although clearly the concerned sellers would prefer an official statement from the ACCC instead.

eBay says its actions in this regard have always been about increasing security for both buyers and sellers, with eBay upgrading PayPal’s protection to $20,000, although there are plenty of stories online of PayPal ignoring legitimate complaints from both buyers and sellers.

Sellers also allege that PayPal does not abide by Australian financial laws, but eBay says this is a myth.

SmartCompany has quoted eBay spokesman Daniel Feiler defending eBay “against the allegations that it promotes PayPal to the detriment of other payment methods” and quotes Feiler saying “traders are not restrained in the payment methods they can offer and all payment methods will be advertised next to PayPal on a seller’s site.”

Continued on page 2.